Osinbajo

The Office of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday denied reports that the reason President Muhammadu Buhari directed him to seek his approval before taking decisions on any agency under his watch was because he often subverted due process.

The Cable had on Tuesday reported that the directive from President Buhari to Osinbajo was contained in a Monday memo, suggesting that during Buhari’s first term, the Vice President was known to flout due process.

Incidentally, Buhari had also on Monday disbanded the Economic Management Team (EMT) of his administration which was hitherto chaired by Osinbajo and replaced it with an Economic Advisory Council (EAC), with Prof. Doyin Salami as chairman.

A statement issued on Tuesday by Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant to the Office of the Vice President described the report as misleading and aimed at planting seeds of discord in the Presidency.

“Our attention has been drawn to a sensational report by The Cable which claims that His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari has directed Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) to seek approvals for agencies under him.

“The report suggests, falsely, that agencies under the supervision of the Vice President do not normally comply with established rules where presidential approvals are required.

“This is obviously misleading and aims only to plant seeds of discord in the Presidency while creating an unnecessary national hysteria.

“The agencies in question are established by law and the Vice President has always insisted on due compliance with the enabling statutes and other established regulations.

“Depending on the particular scope of activity in question, agencies may require management approval only, at the level of the Director General or Chief Executive Officer. In this category falls the great majority of their day-to-day activities.

“However, other activities or procurements with value exceeding a certain threshold, require Board approval. These may get to the agency Board chaired by the Vice President.

“In a few cases where Presidential approval is required, the Director-General must seek such approval from the President, through the Vice President.

“These rules have always guided the activities of statutory agencies and the ones under the Vice President’s supervision have always been so guided.

“To claim that in the first term of the Buhari administration, agencies of government have not been complying with the provisions (of getting final approvals from the President) is false and the attempt to suggest the Vice President’s complicity in such irregularities is simply mischievous and reprehensible.

“The effective and mutually respecting relationship between the President and the Vice President is well known to Nigerians and it is futile to insinuate otherwise.

“Even though the Vice President has a statutory role as Board Chairman of some government agencies under his office, with appropriate approval limits, which often do not include contract approvals; it is ludicrous to even insinuate that a Board Chairman approves contracts.

“Evidently, the Federal Executive Council, which oversees Federal Ministries and agencies of government, is chaired by the President, and it is in its purview to approve or ratify award of contracts within the prescribed threshold.

“The Vice President remains committed to the service of his fatherland and will continue to do so despite the purveyors of fake news in media organizations, which are supposed to uphold truth, balance, fairness and objectivity in their reports,” the statement read.